The visitors found themselves inside a bizarre combination of Macy's and the palace at Versailles. As hundreds of Manila's poorest, many of them in ragged clothes and rubber sandals, shuffled between golden ropes through Malacañang Palace, the residence of former President Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda, they witnessed a show of conspicuous consumption beyond their imaginings. Inside Imelda's boudoir were two queen-size beds on an elevated platform, and a grand piano. The former First Lady's washbasin was made of gold. Downstairs, in a not-so-bargain basement, the woman who used to refer to "my fellow poor" had left behind some 2,700...
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